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Welcome to my Monster Hunter Stories for Nintendo Switch and Console EXP guide! I’m in love with this game all over again, and some of my previous experience has helped me navigate it with ease.
One crucial aspect of any RPG is knowing how to farm EXP, especially since some bosses might be overwhelming for your current party. A few more levels might be all you need to push through.
So, in this guide, I’ll go over a couple of strategies you can use to level up your Monsties in both Story Mode and the Post-Game. Let’s begin!
Early Game
Subquests
Subquests should be your main focus if you want to level up during the story. In my latest playthrough, I was rushing the story and, as a result, I was under-leveled. Fortunately, all it took to catch up was to complete the higher-ranked Subquests available. Some of them can be repeated, so take advantage of that.
Barrel Melynx
You’ve probably encountered one or two during your travels, so you know about the absurd amount of EXP these felines can net you. However, they are rare to find, and even in battle, they can be elusive. To farm these effectively, do the following:
Unlock the caravans in these two areas and teleport between them until you find one:
Great TreeRoot
Monsoon Plains Highlands
Once you find one, make sure you approach it from behind. This will give you an extra turn of damage if you can’t OHKO it.
This is a personal preference, but I always use Ratha’s Fireball + Cheer Skill to ensure an OHKO.
In the end, you’ll get 10,000 EXP or 15,000 if you’re using a Training Charm. If you don’t have any, you can use a normal prayer to increase your EXP gain as well.
Post-Game
There are two great ways to farm EXP in the post-game, along with another method for gaining passive EXP. Let’s start with the latter.
Expeditions
As you know, you can send Monsties on expeditions. In the Post-Game, you’ll have access to Mount Celion. Going there to gain EXP will yield 60,000 EXP every hour. It’s not much, but considering you can do this passively, it’s a great way to gain some easy EXP.
Barrel Melynx
As soon as you unlock the Tower of Illusion, you can start abusing the first five floors to get an insane amount of EXP for your level. On the 5th floor, you’re sure to find a Barrel Felyne, and after defeating it, you’ll get 50,000 EXP, or 75,000 EXP if you’re using a training charm. As you advance in the Tower, you’ll eventually reach Barrel Felynes that give even more EXP! These Barrel Felynes are a bit faster, so I usually like using a Barrel Bomb when I have one.
Special Subquests – Killing Elder Dragons
This is probably the best EXP farming method but requires at least a level 50-60 party to farm effectively. If you go to your special subquests, you’ll see a couple that involve killing an Elder Dragon. I like farming Kushala Daora since he’s weak to Dragon, and I have a decently built Stygian Zinogre, but using Ratha also works very well.
The quest itself only rewards you with 10,000 EXP, but defeating the designated target will net you a staggering 180,000 EXP with the training charm active!
Again, if you’re at a low level, this battle will take a long time, and you might as well continue grinding the Tower of Illusion. But once you have level 99 Monsties, you’ll complete these quests with ease.
Happy Farming!
These are all the methods I’ve found to effectively farm EXP in Monster Hunter Stories for the Nintendo Switch! If you have any questions about any of the points, let me know!